The only way Kosova can hope to manage successfully the creation of a Serb counter-government is if Washington can accomplish what it has failed to so far – to convince at least some of the five EU members who do not recognize Kosova to do so now.
The system of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is characterized by the tension between different types of mutually reinforcing distrust, which make institutional change and the emergence of new elites more difficult than in neighboring countries.
By lifting the OHR’s remaining bans, Valentin Inzko has quietly conceded that the OHR no longer has the moral authority to dismiss people from public office or to punish them by international decree, thereby marking a profound change in the international community’s attitudes towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Through threats and cajolements, Dodik is proving remarkably adept
Dodik’s decision to postpone a controversial entity-wide referendum on the decisions of the international high representative will likely amount to yet another postponement of the much needed critical reexamination of the politics of the region and the political institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An interview with Matthew Parish, the former Chief Legal Adviser to the International Supervisor of Brčko, on the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the challenges surrounding government formation and the Republika Srpska’s proposed referendum on the Court and Prosecutor’s Office.
The current politics of “2 against 1” reflect the failure that is Bosnia and the danger that a Dayton arrangement acceptable to none of the country’s players – except maybe for Dodik – could provoke challenges even more unexpected and indelible than those so far evident.
With VAT the biggest single source of government revenue in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) will be the next target of Milorad Dodik’s agenda to weaken state institutions.
Instead of focusing on the old habit of ‘nationalism’ and ‘national interest’, Serbia needs to define its future position regionally and globally, particularly with respect to EU integration, Kosovo and Bosnia.
Though the prospect of EU candidate status spurred on some very real changes in the region in 2010 – particularly concerning regional co-operation and tackling corruption – several scandals, especially those in Kosovo, threaten to inhibit further progress.